Elderly man, 80, left waiting 16 hours for emergency treatment

Elderly man, 80, left waiting 16 hours for emergency treatment

AN 80-year-old man was left waiting more than 16 hours for emergency treatment on New Year’s Day after falling in the bathroom.

Tom Wilson, from Newtongrange in Midlothian, lay bleeding for more than three hours as he waited on an ambulance – and then spent 13 hours on a trolley in a corridor in A&E.

His case was highlighted by Scottish Labour as they blasted the SNP for “not properly supporting our NHS” – accusing the Government of “spin”.

NHS bosses apologised to the family, citing "significant pressures this winter because of a high number of complex cases and respiratory illness".

Mr Wilson’s son, Michael, said he phoned 999 seven times - only to be told that an ambulance was coming from Kelso instead of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary just 14 minutes away.

In an angry letter to Health Secretary Shona Robison, Michael Wilson said his dad had been left on a hospital corridor “like an old cow waiting to die”.

He said he was “so fed up of the lies” and claims the NHS is fine that he wanted to go public with his dad’s story, adding: “I am lucky it was just the flu and cuts and bruises, as if it was anything else he could have died waiting that long on an ambulance.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the BMA – the trade union for doctors – had previously said it was “fed up with this government’s spin, and patients are too”.

He added: “That is an 80 year old man with underlying health conditions waiting more than 16 hours for treatment.

“The First Minister has been found out on her NHS spin. What staff, patients and families need is a long term plan to fix the mess she has made of our NHS.”

It comes as new figures revealed the number of flu cases in Scotland had more than doubled over the past week, leaving them four times higher than the same time last year.

The Scottish Conservatives called for a moratorium to be introduced to halt the decline in hospital beds.

In 2016/17, there were 21,340 beds in Scotland’s hospitals, Ruth Davidson said – compared to more than 23,000 in 2012/13.

He said Ms Sturgeon was directly responsible for failures in the NHS as First Minister and in her previous role as Health Secretary.

He added: “We are all proud of our NHS staff in enduring the conditions that have been created by Nicola Sturgeon, but is she really proud of what she has done to our NHS?"

Responding to the claims during First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said the “health service budget has gone up to record levels, the number of people who work in our health service has gone up to record levels and the number of delayed discharges has gone down over the past year”.

She said: "Despite the winter pressures—I readily acknowledge the pressure that they put on not just patients but staff—I repeat that the health service in Scotland is the best-performing health service anywhere in the United Kingdom.

“That is down partly to policy, but it is down principally to the hard work of staff right across our health service.”

But the First Minister apologised to Mr Wilson after his 16-hour wait for treatment was highlighted by Scottish Labour.

She said: “What I say to Mr Wilson is very simple: I say sorry to him if that was his experience of the health service.

“I said earlier this week and the Health Secretary said in the chamber that we apologise unreservedly to any patient who has waited longer than they should for hospital treatment or who does not get the standard of treatment that they have a right to expect, not just in winter but at any time of the year, and I do that again unequivocally today.

“The Health Secretary and I will be more than happy to look into the specifics of Mr Wilson’s case if Richard Leonard passes them to us.”

Jim Crombie, deputy chief executive of NHS Lothian, said: “I would like to apologise to Mr Wilson and his family for any delays they encountered in the emergency department at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

"We are experiencing significant pressures this winter because of a high number of complex cases and respiratory illness and our staff are working extremely hard to continue to provide the highest standards of care.

"I would assure Mr Wilson and all of our patients that we are monitoring the situation very closely and working hard to minimise delays."

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